


Golden Slumbers

by Dan_Francisco



Series: RWBY in the Cold War [10]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cold War, Angst, Cancer, Gen, Oneshot, Unhappy Ending, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 04:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19456657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dan_Francisco/pseuds/Dan_Francisco
Summary: Yang gets a late-night call from Ruby.





	Golden Slumbers

**Katowice, Poland**

**July 8 th, 2009**

**0237 hours**

Yang woke up, not intentionally, but because her phone was ringing. Groggy, she groaned, wincing as the ringing persisted. Fuck, who the hell could be calling her at this hour? Ruby knew she’d be asleep. Weiss didn’t have a reason to call. Blake…wow, when was the last time she and Blake had even _talked?_ She opened her eyes, sighing as she gestured with her arm – more accurately the stump – to her wife, Walentyna, that she didn’t need to get up. Yang propped herself up with her left hand, sitting up enough to look around. Phone was on her bedstand as always, little rectangular screen lighting up and buzzing to let her know she was getting a call.

_“Co się dzieje?”_ Walentyna said. She wasn’t awake enough to use Polish yet. Always took her a little.

“Go back to sleep,” Yang muttered, desperately wishing she could do so herself. “Prob’ly a wrong number or some shit.” She sighed, swinging her legs over the bed and grabbing her phone, flipping it open. _Ruby?_ Why was Ruby calling? She’d always been real fucking enthusiastic to talk, but she knew it was late for Yang.

Part of her wanted to ignore the call, put her phone on silent and go back to sleep. Yet, at the same time, there was just an overwhelming sense of fear, fear of what she didn’t know. Shaking her head, she answered the call, putting the phone up to her ear. “Hello?”

“Oh thank God,” Ruby said. Had she been crying? Something clearly wasn’t right. “I didn’t think you’d pick up.”

“Well, shit, I was thinking about it,” Yang muttered. “You know it’s like, 2 AM for me, right?”

“Yang,” Ruby sobbed, each breath muffled by the phone’s speaker. “There’s…there’s a problem. Dad’s got cancer.”

Within the span of two seconds, Yang’s entire world stopped. Her jaw dropped, then closed, back to open again as she tried to form words, shifting around to hold the phone with her shoulder so she could turn on the lamp next to her. “Wh-what do you _mean_ Dad’s got cancer?” she asked. “You said it was like, pneumonia or something.”

God, it was like fucking yesterday. Ruby had called her, said Dad hadn’t been feeling too hot lately. Meant to go to Mom’s brick at Beacon, but elected not to since he was feeling so badly. That was last week. How the hell did he go from pneumonia to cancer in a fucking week?

“Yeah, I…that’s what we thought,” she said, still sobbing. “I don’t know, Yang, it’s like – he was fine, and I was going to call you but it’s always so late over there and-”

“Okay, okay,” Yang muttered, really wishing she had her fucking hand on so she could rub her forehead. “Just…I dunno, start from the beginning. What the hell happened?”

_“Czy wrzystko jest porządku?”_ Walentyna again. Yang waved her stump at her, unable to focus.

“I don’t know,” Ruby said, stilted breaths emanating from the tiny speaker. “I came up to say hi, Dad wasn’t feeling good, so…I took him to the hospital and that’s…that’s when they did it all and…oh my God Yang, he’s got like three different tumors.”

Yang slammed her eyes shut, taking a sharp breath and rolling her lips over her teeth, trying to hide the pain. It wasn’t working. Walentyna was stirring behind her, bedsprings creaking as she got up, rested her hand on Yang’s shoulder. She couldn’t keep sitting on this goddamn bed, had to get up, had to move.

“Okay, um, so like,” Yang muttered. _“Fuck._ What-what can they do?”

Ruby broke down crying again. “Th-the doctors said that they could do a biopsy, but by the time they got that set up Dad was just getting worse and…and…Yang, they said he won’t make it through the night.”

Yang felt the tears rolling down her face first, followed by the sheer dread as her shoulders fell. Was she even in her room anymore? She couldn’t tell. Nothing made sense. All she could see was a dim orange light emanating from the corner, casting her shadow on the other wall. Had she just sobbed, or was that some sort of weird gasping noise she had made? Again she repeated the cycle of fucking around with her mouth as she tried to find her voice. “W-well, can’t they like…I dunno, can’t they _do_ something? Like…give him something? Wh-what about chemotherapy, or-”

“Yang,” Ruby said, a deathly serious tone in her voice. “I’m so, so sorry. I really wish you were here.”

Yang tilted her head down, swallowed, tried to keep the tears back but couldn’t. If only she hadn’t lost her fucking hand, it’d be real fucking nice to be able to dry her eyes right now. “C-can I talk to him?”

Ruby sobbed again. _God,_ if it was this bad for Yang, she could only imagine what it was like for Ruby. “H-he’s in a coma. They put him under so…so he wouldn’t be in as much pain.”

Alright, well, now she _really_ was missing her arm. Forgetting it had ever left her in the first place, she lifted a nonexistent hand up to her face, shaking her head angrily as she was brutally reminded of how _fucked_ her life had become. “I don’t even get to say goodbye?” she eked out.

“I’m so sorry, Yang.”

She shut her eyes again, taking deep breaths as if that’d help quell the intense heartbreak she was feeling. There was so much she wanted to _do_ with Dad. Ask him more about Vietnam. Bring him to Poland. Show him Europe. Find out more about _mom._ Fuck, all of that was just _gone_ now. She swallowed again, trying to at least calm herself down. “Alright, well, uh…it’s like, 3 in the morning for me, Ruby, I…I gotta work tomorrow. Just…tell him I said goodbye, okay? And that I love him.”

Ruby sobbed again. God, if she never heard that sound again for the rest of her life, Yang would be fucking golden. “Okay,” she finally said in between loud sobs. “I will. I promise.”

“Okay. I’m gonna…fucking _try_ to sleep, I guess. I’ll…I’ll talk to you later, Ruby.”

“Okay,” Ruby muttered. “Okay.”

“Hey, I love you too, okay? We’ll make it through this. We always do.”

“Yeah. Okay, I’ll let you go. Bye, Yang.”

“Bye, Ruby.”

Yang snapped the phone closed, letting her arm fall uselessly at her side. Still staring down, she calmly put the phone back at its resting place, sitting down on her bed. Within seconds, Walentyna had wrapped her arms around her, resting her head against Yang’ shoulder. Yang leaned her head back, putting her hand on top of Walentyna’s. Slowly, they sat there, breathing in silence together. She could feel the tears coming back, her mouth drying up as everything hit her at once.

“Everything will be alright, Yang,” Walentyna said quietly. Well, at least she was awake enough for Polish.

“He’s got cancer,” she replied, shuddering as the reality of it hit her like a fucking truck.

“Oh, love, I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry.”

Yang’s body shook as she sobbed once, then twice, her tears rolling off and mixing with her and Walentyna’s hair. “Ruby said he wouldn’t last the night. I didn’t get to say goodbye. I’m never gonna have that chance again.”

Walentyna said nothing, just squeezing her tightly. Right now, it was nice. It was what she needed. Having her here calmed Yang, made the world seem a little less bleak if only for a moment. When was the last time she had talked to Dad? She couldn’t remember. Eventually, both of them recognized that they’d need sleep. Fuck, Yang would have to do a lot of work. Figure out travel plans, ask for time off…fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

All she wanted was to say goodbye. Tell him how much he meant to her. She fucking knew first hand, talking to a goddamn brick wasn’t the same. Yang tossed and turned for God-knows how long, trying to find sleep but knowing it would never come. By morning, her pillow was soaked with her tears.

She should call Blake when she got home.

**Author's Note:**

> Polish translations:
> 
> "Co się dzieje?" - "What's going on?"  
> “Czy wrzystko jest porządku?" - "Is everything okay?"


End file.
